


Ten Times James Was Bamboozled By Muggles

by unseenstars



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Eventual James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Fluff, James Potter Being an Idiot, Muggle Culture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2020-02-06
Packaged: 2021-01-25 00:08:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 9,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21347032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unseenstars/pseuds/unseenstars
Summary: James is a smart guy, sure, but he just doesn't understand Lily and all her Muggle contraptions. Lily is kind enough to explain a few times.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter
Comments: 6
Kudos: 69





	1. The Telephone: In Which James Asks Lily to Owl Him Over Break And Lily Says No

**Author's Note:**

> I've seen endless Tumblr theories about kids from Wizarding families not understanding Muggle things, and also I ship Jily like no tomorrow. Thus, this fic. It's nine chapters plus an epilogue, I'll try and post about a chapter a week.
> 
> If you like it, kudos and comments make my day!

“Evans! Hey, _Evans_!” James shouts. He fights the flood of students heading for the entrance hall to follow the redhead. Lily looks over her shoulder and yells, “Shove off, Potter,” then continues on her way.

James only squeezes between two third years and catches up. “Are you going home for break?”

It’s Christmas. The students have finished their exams and James can’t wait to head home. Sirius is staying with him this year, instead of going home to his family. It’s a new moon, so Remus will be feeling good too. James is convinced that this will be the best holiday yet.

Except for Evans, who refuses to go out with him, no matter what he does to impress her.  _ Girls _ , James thinks to himself.

“Of course I’m going home for break, don’t be daft,” says Lily absentmindedly. She’s preoccupied with a piece of parchment, on which she’s scribbling an address. James can’t see what it says, and when he tries to look, Lily yanks it away and stuffs it in her bag.

“What do you want, Potter?” she demands, still striding ahead.

“Fancy coming to a party at my house Christmas Eve? You can be my plus-one,” says James.

Lily looks up at that and shakes her head. “Not a chance in the world. But I’ll give you credit for trying when I’m distracted.”

James grins, and Lily smirks.

“New Year’s get-together? Marlene will be there,” James tries.

“No, I won’t come over for New Year’s either. One, I don’t know where you live -”

“Fixable problem,” interrupts James. Lily continues on as if he hadn’t spoken at all.

“ -two, even if I did, I have no way of getting to your house -”

“ -we’d come and get you -”

“ -and three, even if you had a way around the first two reasons, I wouldn’t come over anyway,” finishes Lily.

All in all, it’s not one of Lily’s more cutting rejections. James is crestfallen for a moment, then perks back up.

“You’ll write to me, though, Evans?” he asks.

Lily laughs out loud at that, and James smiles in spite of himself. He adores hearing Lily Evans laugh. Especially when he’s the cause.

“I’ll call you,” she says, and turns to walk down the hall.

James is very confused. She’ll call him? “Call me what?” he shouts after her.

She turns back. “It’s a Muggle thing. Ask Remus!”

And she’s gone.

Determined to know what “calling” is, James races off to find his friends.

He finally discovers them once they’re on the Hogwarts Express. They’re in a compartment playing Exploding Snap. Well, Sirius and Peter are playing Exploding Snap and Remus is reading a book.

“Moony,” James demands, “Evans said she was going to call me. What the hell does she mean?”

Remus smirks. “She didn’t tell you?”

“No, she told me to ask you.”

Remus sighs. “Of course she did. Instead of owls, Muggles use things called telephones to talk to each other over long distances. I won’t go into the mechanics of how they work, but when you want to talk to someone on the phone, you call them.”

James is beginning to see a problem with Lily’s calling plan.

“But I don’t have a fellytone -”

“Telephone,” corrects Remus.

“Whatever. How is she supposed to call me?”

“Mate, you’re a bit blind to what’s going on here,” says Sirius. “She’s teasing you. She knows you don’t have a whatdoyoucallit, and she knows that you don’t have a bloody clue what she’s talking about. She’s not going to call you at all.”

“Oh,” says James, rather disappointed.

“Cheer up,” says Sirius. “Now you’re here, Remus doesn’t have an excuse not to have an Exploding Snap tournament.”

James sits down and Peter deals the cards. James thinks about Lily and her words. “I’ll call you,” he hears in his mind.

_ Telephones _ , James thinks to himself. He really would have to start paying attention to Remus when he was doing his Muggle Studies homework.


	2. The Notebook: In Which Lily is the Center of Attention and James Doesn’t Like It

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! I'm posting on time!
> 
> Kudos and/or comments are very much appreciated if you are so inclined.

Tongue between his teeth, James taps the Marauder’s Map with his wand. He’s wedged into a niche in the wall, covered by the Invisibility Cloak. The Gryffindor girls have somehow managed to turn all of the bed hangings in the fifth-year boy’s dormitory yellow, blue, and green over break. James doesn’t know how they had done it. But the deed is done, and when the boys got back from Christmas, there were the bed hangings, colorful and distinctly not red.

And Lily - Lily Evans - had not only condoned it, but she had led the assault. James knows this because he’s memorized her handwriting, and the note pinned to Peter’s pillow, mocking the boys for their “obvious and overstated” pranks, had most definitely been Lily’s handwriting.

So the Marauders are executing payback.

“James,” whispers Peter, “is the coast clear?

James nods and then remembers that Peter can’t see him. “Yep, all clear,” James whispers back.

James points his wand at the enormous pile of parchment in front of them and whispers an incantation. Perfect.

Remus banishes the parchment with a wave of his wand, and it disappears, back to the girl’s dormitory. The girls are all smart, ambitious students. The loss of their parchment - and by extension, their ability to take notes - will leave them floundering. Not forever, just long enough for the Marauders to enjoy their prank. Then they’ll fix it.

* * *

“Lily, have you seen my parchment?” Mary Macdonald hollers.

“No, try Mar,” shouts a voice. Lily emerges from the bathroom, hurriedly drying her hair with her wand. “Alice, toss me my hairbrush will you?”

Alice throws the hairbrush in question, Marlene ducks (because Alice has truly awful aim), and Mary shrieks.

“Mary, are you all right?” asks Lily, once the hairbrush has been caught.

“My parchment,” Mary says. Her face is pale.

Marlene gasps. “Oh my -”

“Whatever is the matter?” demands Lily. Then, she sees the parchment.

Mary’s spare parchment - and Marlene’s, and Alice’s, and Lily’s - has been reduced to yellow, green, and blue scraps. One larger piece contains a note.

“Color us surprised. But we always get revenge,” Lily reads. “It has to be the boys. It has to be.”

The paper in her hands dissolves into more confetti.

The girls are quiet. “Well,” says Marlene finally. “How are we going to get them back?”

Lily smiles slowly. “They want attention, yeah? They want us to be flustered and angry. We can be creative instead.” She walks to her trunk and passes out three slim rectangular objects, keeping a fourth for herself. Mary grins, and when Lily explains to Alice and Marlene, they grin too.

In class that day, everyone wants to know about the cool things Lily and her friends are using to take notes.

“They’re called notebooks,” explain Lily and Mary. “They’re a Muggle thing. So much more practical than parchment, really.”

Across the room, the Marauders are looking mutinous. Finally, James stands up and marches over to Lily.

“Evans,” he demands, “What exactly is the function of - that?” James doesn’t have a word for it, but Lily doesn’t need to know.

“It’s a notebook, James,” Lily says patiently. “You take notes in it. Like parchment, only better.”

“A what? Why wouldn’t you take notes on parchment?” James is genuinely confused. He doesn’t get it. Their plan was foolproof! The girls are supposed to be unprepared and flustered from the missing parchment, not the center of attention from some Muggle solution!

“Because we didn’t have any,” Lily says, and her voice tells James she knows exactly who ruined their parchment and why.

James explodes. “You lot are always scheming to come up with something like this to make us look bad. I swear -”

“James!” yells Sirius. “Shout a bit louder, yeah? There are some second years in Charms upstairs that didn’t quite hear you.”

Lily fires up in return. “You think you’re so cool, taking our supplies, when really it’s just petty. You’re only mad because we came up with a solution that you didn’t like -”

“Miss Evans,” says a voice.

They both look up to see Professor McGonagall.

“Yes, Professor?”

“Why are you shouting? You too, Potter, don’t think I didn’t hear you earlier.”

Lily gets a gleam in her eye. “Well, Professor, I was looking for my parchment this morning, only someone had ripped it all to shreds. Actually, all the girls in my dormitory had the same thing happen. We tried to repair it, but Reparo didn’t work, so I decided to grab one of these instead. Then, James was annoyed that I had a notebook instead of parchment, and he started yelling, and I guess I lost my temper too.”

“May I see the ripped parchment?”

James smirks. Surely Lily wouldn’t have thought to -

Lily pulls out a handful, and James groans. Professor McGonagall’s head snaps up.

“Potter, you wouldn’t happen to know anything about this, would you?”

James sighs.

Later, after James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, and Lily are done with their detention (lines - the Marauders got it for their prank and Lily got it for shouting), they pass a group of fourth years.

“D’you think if I owled Mum, she’d send me a notebook like Lily Evans has?” one asks to his friend.

James clenches his fists. Lily smirks.


	3. The Pen: In Which James Tries to Apologize and is Distracted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Additional disclaimer, beyond "I don't own Harry Potter": the dialogue from the first scene is taken from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and is not mine.
> 
> Kudos/comments are appreciated and valued as always!

“I don’t need help from filthy little Mudbloods like her!”

Lily only blinks, but inside, she feels like someone has punched her in the gut. Severus called her Mudblood. Severus, who told her about Hogwarts and helped her when Petunia stopped talking to her and was her first friend, called her Mudblood.

_ Say something _ , Lily thinks. Hazily, she’s aware that everyone’s watching her and that they’re all waiting for her to do something. Even Severus himself.

“Fine,” she says, hoping she sounds cold and not like she’s about to cry. “I won’t bother in future. And I’d wash your pants if I were you, _Snivellus_.”

His jaw drops. She’s never called him that before, she knows. But then again, he’s never called her Mudblood either.

“Apologize to Evans!” James shouts as she’s turning to go.

_ This is getting ridiculous _ , Lily thinks. “I don’t want you to make him apologize, you’re as bad as he is!”

“What? I’d never call you a - you-know-what!” protests James. Lily almost believes him, but then he runs his hand through his hair -  _ again  _ \- and Lily knows with more clarity than ever that James Potter will never change.

“Messing up your hair because you think it looks cool to look like you’ve just got off your broomstick, showing off with that stupid Snitch, walking down corridors and hexing anyone who annoys you just because you can - I’m surprised your broomstick can get off the ground with that fat head on it. You make me  _ sick _ .”

Everyone is shocked into silence by Lily’s tirade. She spins on her heel and leaves. Dimly, she can hear James shouting after her, can hear someone cursing, can hear “ _ Levicorpus _ !” and she knows that the boys are fighting again, but right now she doesn’t care.

_ He called me Mudblood _ , Lily thinks. It’s only when she’s barricaded herself in her dormitory that she lets herself think about it. She still doesn’t let herself cry. Lily hasn’t cried since Petunia called her a freak at King’s Cross Station on the first of September when she was eleven. She’s not about to let a couple of boys make her cry now.

But Lily can’t get the image and the sound of Severus forming the word “Mudblood” out of her mind.

A knock comes on the door, and Lily mumbles, “Come in.”

It’s Marlene. “Oh, Lily,” she says.

And then Lily lets the tears fall.

* * *

“ _ Incendio _ ,” mutters Lily.

All the quills go up in flames. Just like her friendship with Severus.

Even two months later, Lily still hasn’t forgiven him for what he did. He tried to apologize, but she told him no. Wandering around Cokeworth that summer, Lily would see him at the park by their houses, but she walked by without saying anything.

Mary came over and had the brilliant idea that Lily should write him a note in pencil, to rub it in his face. Lily took the idea a little too far, and decided to burn all her quills as soon as she got to school.

So now the girls are watching a fire burn away Lily’s quills and ink. Mary looks concerned. Marlene looks proud. Lily feels empty.

The next day, she sees James in the hall. He walks up to her, and she lets him. She doesn’t have anything more to say to him now.

“Evans,” says James, and she notices his voice has deepened and he’s grown about a foot. “I - I wanted to tell you, about last year and - you know -”

He stops talking. Lily glances up and then looks back ahead.

“Evans,” says James again, and then he stops. “Evans, what exactly are you holding?”

Lily looks down and realizes that she’s holding one of her pens. She examines it. It’s only a pen - the most commonplace object in the Muggle world - but here and now, it’s so much more. And James wants to know what it is. And he sounds somewhat interested.

“It’s a pen,” says Lily. “You write with it. Like a quill.”

“Why aren’t you using quills? Not that there’s anything wrong with pens, you know,” fumbles James.

“You know why,” says Lily.

“Yeah,” says James. “I do. And I wanted to say - I’m sorry. It wasn’t my place to get in the middle.”

Lily is shocked. “Are you apologizing, Potter?”

James winks. “Don’t tell anyone.”

For the first time in two whole months, Lily smiles. “No promises.”

She walks towards the Great Hall for breakfast.

“Oi, Evans!” shouts James.

“What?”

“Can I have a pen?”

Lily laughs, digs in her bag, and throws a pen across the corridor to James. He catches it and examines it. Lily wonders if people can change after all.


	4. The Record: In Which James Asks Lily to Dance And Lily Doesn’t Say No

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I definitely forgot to update last week. Oops.
> 
> As an apology, I present you this week with: two chapters instead of one!
> 
> If you enjoy this, please leave kudos or comments, they make me very happy!

Snow blankets the castle grounds. The stars shine out the window, and the castle is all decorated for Christmas, but Lily can’t appreciate it. She’s in a towering mood, because Petunia had owled her yesterday saying that her boyfriend, Vernon Dursley, was coming home for Christmas, and could Lily please stay at school this year so that Vernon wouldn’t have to meet Petunia’s freak sister?

Lily’s parents owled this morning saying that Petunia was being a bit ridiculous, and of course Lily could come home, but it might be better if she didn’t mention her magic around Vernon.

Lily’s furious. She doesn’t want to go home if it means she can’t be herself. She thought that her parents were proud of her and would take her side, but apparently being nice to Petunia’s new boyfriend is more important. But Lily doesn’t want to stay at Hogwarts either, because staying at Hogwarts means staying with Sev - _Snape_, Lily reminds herself. Lily can’t bear the thought of spending Christmas with him either.

She storms into the girls’ dormitory, where Marlene is sitting.

“What’s got your wand in a knot?” asks Marlene.

Lily slams the letter down in front of Marlene for answer.

Marlene scans it, then looks up at Lily. “Your sister is really something else.”

“I know,” says Lily. “Even my parents won’t let me just be home for Christmas. I don’t even get what the big deal is anyway. Her boyfriend is awful, really, he works at a firm that makes drills, and he’s such a pompous prat.”

Marlene is quiet, then jumps up. “Walk with me to the Owlery? I have to owl Mum now.”

“Why?” says Lily, scrambling off the bed to follow Marlene.

“Well, I have to tell her to get an extra guest room ready, since you’ll be coming home with us for Christmas holidays, and -”

“Hang on,” says Lily. “What do you mean I’m coming home with you?”

Marlene stops. “Well, you obviously can’t stay here with Snape, and you sound like you don’t want to go home, so you’ll stay with me.”

Lily stands there, then tackles Marlene and gives her a huge hug. “You are the best friend ever,” Lily says.

Marlene grins. “I know.”

* * *

“Lily!” Marlene hollers up the stairs. “Ready to go?”

“Just a minute,” yells Lily, zipping up the side of her dark gray dress. She grabs her boots and runs down the stairs, straight into Marlene, who’s in glittering green.

“Thanks for letting me borrow a dress,” says Lily.

“No problem,” says Marlene. “Sorry about yours. I swear, Annie didn’t mean to rip it to shreds.”

Lily laughs at the memory. Marlene had told her to pack a dress for Christmas Eve dinner with her cousins, though she had failed to mention which cousins. Marlene had a lot of cousins at Hogwarts. Lily had packed a dress, but she and Marlene had woken up that morning to shreds of blue fabric and the McKinnon family dog, Annie, looking up at them.

“It’s all right. I probably need a new one anyway,” says Lily. “I’ve had the blue one since I was thirteen.”

“You have not,” says Marlene as they step out into the snow, following Marlene’s parents.

“I have too.”

The snow is falling lightly and by the time they reach the enormous house, only a short walk from Marlene’s, the girls are laughing and their cheeks are red from the cold.

The door swings open and -

“Evans!” exclaims James.

“Marlene,” says Lily.

“James, so good to see you,” says Marlene.

While they’re taking off their coats, Lily yanks Marlene aside.

“You failed to mention that the specific cousins we were visiting were James Potter and his parents!” she hisses.

“And me,” says another familiar voice.

Lily closes her eyes, counts to ten, and turns around. “Hello, Black.”

“Evening.” Sirius mimes tipping a hat at the girls. “Everyone’s in the living room when you’re ready.” And he saunters out.

Marlene grabs Lily’s arm. “Oh, Lily, it’ll be fine, I promise. James is much more well-behaved around his parents.”

“He better be,” Lily mutters darkly, and they go out to join the others.

Marlene, surprisingly, is right in her assessment. James does manage to sit next to Lily on the sofa, but that’s really all.

“It’s lovely to meet you, Lily,” says James’ mother. “We’ve heard so much about you from James. How is school this year?”

Lily likes her instantly. “It’s great, Mrs. Potter. I’ve got some hard classes, but I love a challenge.”

“Euphemia, dear,” says Mrs. Potter, and Lily smiles.

“Eggnog?” asks James, passing a bottle to Lily.

“Thanks,” she says. She pours herself a glass, and then pauses. “You haven’t -”

“No pranks on Christmas, and that’s a promise,” says James. To prove it, he pours some of the same bottle into his own glass and takes a sip.

Lily tentatively tastes the drink, and it’s hard for her to stop herself inhaling the whole thing, because it’s so delicious.

Everyone talks, and then they all go into the dining room which has the largest chandelier Lily’s ever seen, for dinner, which is the best food Lily’s ever eaten. The Potter family house-elf serves them, which makes Lily slightly uncomfortable, but the elf seems happy and the Potters are all very kind, and so Lily doesn’t make a scene.

After dinner and dessert, the adults return to the living room and Lily, Marlene, James and Sirius are left alone.

“What now?” says Sirius, tilting dangerously far back in his chair.

“Let’s get the wheel scratcher thing out and show Marlene,” says James.

They follow James through the winding halls, and finally he leads them into a large room with high windows. Lamps come on as they enter the room, and though Lily isn’t much of an expert on culture or history, she recognizes it instantly.

“It’s a ballroom,” she whispers to herself.

James goes to a closet and wheels out a contraption that Lily recognizes. She shrieks with joy.

“James, you never told me you had a record player!”

Lily runs over and looks at the records, too. All different kinds.

“Is that what it’s called?” muses Sirius. “Prongs, you’re the Muggle Studies expert.”

“Moony really is, I just copy his notes,” replies James. “Go on, Evans, show us how it works.”

Lily picks a record at random, and places it on the record player. A slow waltz spins out of the record player, filling the room.

“Mademoiselle, may I have this dance?” asks Sirius of Marlene, and they’re away in a whirlwind of laughter and Marlene’s glittering green dress.

James and Lily watch them for a moment, and then James glances at Lily.

“Want to dance, Evans?”

Lily turns to look at him. He’s serious. His hand is extended and he isn’t smirking - well, any more than usual.

Lily shrugs and gives him her hand. James is an excellent dancer, and Lily follows his lead, slowly gaining confidence until they’re spinning across the floor like Sirius and Marlene.

When the song ends, Lily looks around. Sirius and Marlene are gone, and Lily has no inclination to find out where they went. Marlene’s had a crush for ages on Sirius, and Lily suspects that she’ll get a full description of events later tonight.

James lets go of Lily and says, “Thanks for showing us the record player.”

“Of course,” says Lily. “Why do you have one anyways?”

“Mum’s crazy about Muggle things, and Dad likes to get her presents,” says James. “None of us knew how to use it though, so it ended up in here.”

Lily carefully takes the record off and they put the record player away.

“You called me James,” James blurts suddenly.

“I - what?” Lily asks.

“When you saw the record player,” James elaborates.

Lily remembers now that in her happiness at seeing the record player, she did indeed call him James. She flushes at the memory and wonders if maybe he and his friends aren’t so bad after all. Maybe they could be friends.

“Does this mean you’ll go out with me?” asks James hopefully.

“Don’t push your luck,” says Lily, and runs off to find Marlene. Sirius or no, Marlene needs to be made aware of the latest developments regarding James Potter.


	5. The Flashlight: In Which Lily Gets Scared And James Gets Blinded

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 of my two-chapter update. Enjoy!
> 
> Kudos and comments are always appreciated if you so desire.

James is sneaking through the halls of Hogwarts, doing his best to stay quiet. Filch is hot on his trail and he can’t afford to get caught before the prank is executed. After, it doesn’t matter. He doesn’t care if he gets detention, because it will be worth it to see the faces of the students when the Slytherins walk into breakfast tomorrow morning.

But Filch is gaining ground, and James knows that he’ll never make it without getting caught. So the plan must be changed.

He swerves left, down a hall and behind a tapestry onto a hidden staircase. It’s dark and James can’t see, but he seems to have lost Filch. He stops to listen, and hears something else.

It’s a scuffling, and James would brush it off as a mouse, but something tells him it’s human. James checks around the corner and wishes he has the Marauder’s Map, but Sirius is on lookout duty and so he got the map for this prank. James only has his two-way mirror.

James debates pulling the mirror out of his pocket and asking Sirius to check. But then he realizes that if he does, the other person in the hall will know he’s there and the element of surprise will be lost. James isn’t eager to get caught by whoever it is.

He decides to give his companion a little scare instead.

He can see the figure now, standing to one side of the stairs, with their face turned away. If James had to guess, he’d guess it’s a student, probably a girl, but he can’t tell for sure. James tiptoes up behind them, but before he can do anything, he feels his leg sink through a trick step and he stumbles and curses.

The figure whips around with a small shriek and James is blinded by a bright light that most certainly isn’t wandlight. He feels himself sliding down through the trick step. He doesn’t really want to know what happens if you fall all the way through a trick step. “Oi - trick step about to swallow me up here -”

The light goes away and is replaced by wandlight and James can see that the mysterious figure is Lily Evans. “Evans,” says James, bewildered. “What are you doing here? And do you think that before you yell at me, you could pull me out of here?”

Lily shrugs and yanks James out of the trick step. Once they’re both safe on the stair above, Lily speaks.

“What the hell are you doing out of bed, Potter?”

“I could ask you the same,” James shoots back.

Lily smiles. “Fair enough. You first.”

“I like to clear my head sometimes.”

“Potter, there isn’t enough of substance in your head to clear out,” Lily says, but she’s smiling so James knows she doesn’t really mean it.

“Fine. Prank on the Slytherins, if you must know. Your turn,” James says.

“Rounds.”

“Evans, only Head Boy and Girl do rounds at night, not prefects.”

“I suppose you’re right,” says Lily. “I wanted to talk to Severus. After - you know. He said he would meet me, but he blew me off. So I wandered around for a while,” says Lily.

James is quiet. “He’s not worth your time,” he finally says.

“I know,” says Lily. And she sniffs.

“Lily,” he says.

“Don’t.”

But he pulls her in for a hug anyway, because Lily needs a friend right now.

“He was my first friend,” says Lily. “It’s hard to lose the first friend you ever had.”

“I know,” says James.

“No,” says Lily quietly. “You don’t.”

James hates to admit it, but she’s right. He’ll never know what that feels like.

Not knowing reminds him of something.

“When I tripped,” he begins, “and you saw me - there was a light. I’d never seen anything like it before. Have you?”

Lily looks confused. “No, but I’ve read about it. It’s really rare, and only happens when people who - you know what, never mind. It was probably nothing.”

“What?” says James, eager to know.

Lily smirks. “You fell for that?”

James is indignant now. “Evans, do you know what it was or not?”

Lily laughs and pulls out a strangely shaped wand. “It’s a flashlight, James. It’s a Muggle thing that produces light.”

James thinks back to the Christmas party and remembers the record player. Lily is a brilliant witch, certainly, but James is beginning to notice the things she keeps from the Muggle world. Her pens, and now her flashlight. James thinks it’s a brilliant mixing of worlds.

“Can I tell you something?” says James.

“Yeah, go ahead.”

“I think it’s bloody brilliant. The way you bring Muggle things into the Wizarding world and make them fit. Or make the Wizarding world fit them. It’s... cool,” James finishes somewhat lamely.

Lily smiles, the ghost of a smile. “Thanks.”

James smiles back.

“Walk back to Gryffindor tower with me?” asks James hopefully.

“Why not?” says Lily, and they head off together.

* * *

“Moony.”

“What, Sirius?”

“Come look at this.”

“That’s not possible.”

“Exactly! There’s no way he’s walking back with her.”

“James has some serious explaining to do.”


	6. The Battery: In Which Lily and James Both Learn Something New

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi.... so I forgot to update again. Finals have been rough - apologies, friends!
> 
> Enjoy the chapter. Kudos and comments are always appreciated!

Lily’s fiddling with her flashlight in the common room. It’s long after everyone’s gone to bed, and she remembers her escapade of the night before. Just as she’d met James last night, the flashlight had died. She hadn’t told James, banking on the fact that he would have no clue what she meant and she could disguise her helpless state. She’d switched to wandlight, of course, but wands were easier to track than flashlights because flashlights didn’t give off magical energy.

She’s just managed to get the cap off the light so she can change the batteries when she hears footsteps. She looks up to see James clambering through the portrait hole, looking furious.

“James,” she says, vaguely wondering when they got on a first-name basis. “What’s going on?”

“Sirius,” seethes James. “He... he did something really bad, and we almost died because of it.”

Lily’s confused. “What did he do?”

“I can’t really tell you,” says James. Just then, Remus stumbles in, looking exhausted. He’s covered in scratches.

“Remus!” exclaims Lily. “What on earth happened to you? Here - we need to get you to the hospital wing -”

“No,” says Remus. “I’ve just come from there, it’s all right, really.”

“All right,” says Lily uncertainly.

“Remus,” says James, “Lily wants to know what we were doing tonight. She asked me.”

Remus looks sharply at Lily, who suddenly wishes she hadn’t asked anything.

“Well,” she starts, “James comes in here ready to punch something, and then you turn up looking like you’ve been through a woodchipper - a girl’s going to have some questions. But if it’s something I can’t know, that’s okay. I just want to make sure you guys are okay. Because - because we’re friends.”

Remus nods to James. “It’s all right. She deserves to know. And we can trust her.”

James nods, and then says, “Lily, what do you know about werewolves?”

“Not much,” she says. “We don’t cover them in Defense Against the Dark Arts till seventh year.”

Remus sighs and says, “I know all about them. I have to, because I am one.”

Lily gasps. The batteries in her hand fall to the floor, forgotten. “Oh, Remus,” she says.

“Don’t say you’re sorry,” says Remus, and Lily shuts her mouth instantly. “There’s nothing you could have done and I’ve learned to live with it.”

Lily shakes her head. She wishes she had something to say. Instead, she says, “Can I ask a question?”

Remus nods, and Lily says, “Tonight, were you transforming?”

Remus smiles to himself because Lily didn’t tiptoe around the words. She just asked him. He’s glad that Lily Evans is his friend.

“Yes,” he says.

“And is that how you got the scratches?”

“Yes. But something went wrong.”

A chill runs down Lily’s spine.

“No one’s supposed to know, but someone found out about me. Someone followed us. I don’t know who, because I don’t remember much when I’m transformed. But - James, are you okay?”

“Remus, you won’t like this, but you have to know. I know who followed us.”

“Who?”

James is shaking with anger. “It was Snape. He tried to go down the tunnel. I had to drag him back. And you want to know how he knew where to go? Sirius told him. Sirius, who we trusted with our lives, told Snape. And you almost died.”

Remus glances at James. “Mate, this is no time for jokes -”

“Do I look like I’m joking?” shouts James. “He could have gotten you killed, Remus!”

“Oh, god -” Remus says.

Lily isn’t quite following all this, but what she does understand is that Sirius needs to be yelled at. She stands up and both James and Remus look up.

“I’m going to find Sirius.”

“Lily, no,” says James.

“Please just let us deal with him. He won’t respond well to you. I promise he’ll get what’s due, but this is between us,” adds Remus. “Besides, he doesn’t know we told you about all this.”

Lily has to do something, though. She’s too worked up and she can’t settle down. “Is there anything I can do? Anything at all?”

“Yeah, go find Sirius and bring him back here for us. He should be by the hospital wing, but don’t say anything.”

“And tell me what the hell you dropped by the lightflash,” adds James.

“Flashlight,” says Lily. “They’re called batteries.”

“What do they do?”

“They make the flashlight work. But sometimes they die and have to be replaced.”

James looks aghast. “They die?”

Lily feels instantly guilty, given the conversation they were having previously. “Not die-die. They wear out and you have to replace them.”

“Like we’re about to do with Sirius,” says James heatedly.

“No, James. Batteries aren’t like lifelong friends. Sirius did a really stupid thing and you have every right to be mad at him. But you don’t throw a friend away when they’ve outlived their usefulness,” says Lily quietly. “I should know.”

It’s quiet. The three of them sit in silence for a while. Finally, Lily stands up.

“I’ll go find Sirius,” she says.

“No,” says James. “Let me.”

Remus looks up from the embers of the fire. “James, are you sure -”

“I won’t do anything stupid. I just want to be the one to bring him back here,” says James.

Remus and Lily are left alone then. Eventually, Remus speaks. “You’re right, you know, about throwing friendships away. Eventually, they’ll get over it. That was a smart thing you said to James back there, even if the battery thing flew over his head a little bit.”

Lily tries to smile but it doesn’t feel right. “Do you think he’ll see sense?”

“Oh, eventually he will. Hell, even I’m prepared to forgive Sirius, so long as he explains himself well,” says Remus. “He’ll be all right, just wait.”

“So will you,” says Lily. “I can’t imagine what your life is like, but this whole thing will blow over. You said it yourself.”

Remus smiles. “Thanks, Lily. It means a lot.”

Lily nods and begins changing the batteries on her flashlight.


	7. The Movie: In Which James and Lily Go on a Not-Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello friends... I realize it has been a very long while since I have updated this story. Deepest apologies to anyone following its progress. But I am back now and things have mostly settled down - my winter holidays were not the most relaxing, unfortunately.
> 
> However - on to a new year and hopefully more regular updates!
> 
> Enjoy the chapter, and kudos and comments are always appreciated should you be so inclined.

James lays on the couch, praying for the heat to go away. In the middle of July, he should be out with his friends, or on vacation with his family. But his father’s age made it impossible to go away anymore, and all his friends were off on holidays of their own.

Summer had dragged on since the end of term, and James isn’t anticipating his last year at Hogwarts in the fall, and he has no idea what to do after school ends. James hopes he might have a better idea by the end of the year, but it still frightens him that he’s got no plans at all.

James is shaken from his reverie by the crash of the front door. He jumps up and runs to the door, wondering who could possibly be there.

Sirius is standing in the foyer with a rucksack, and the second he sees James he strides over.

“I’ve had it,” he says, his voice shaking. “I’ve had enough of my family and their ideas, and I’m done.”

James places a hand on his friend’s shoulder, and Sirius glances over, eyes flashing.

“Don’t you start -”

“Mate, calm down. I’m not going to do anything. But you’ve got to take a breath, yeah? I can’t bring you to my mum so you can explain if you’re in danger of breaking something.”

Sirius does, in fact, look like he’s ready to smash something, but after a while, he calms down and the fury leaves his eyes.

Euphemia Potter had never liked the Black family much to begin with, and when she hears that Sirius had left, she’s more than happy to let Sirius stay.

“You’ll stay with us for the rest of the summer,” she says. “And you’re welcome to the room next to James for your own.”

Sirius grins a mile wide.

* * *

“Seen Evans yet this summer?” Sirius asks later that night.

“No,” says James gloomily. “She’s probably off doing things with her friends.”

“I doubt it, since Marlene’s off in Germany and Mary’s helping her parents this summer.”

James sits up from where he is laying on the floor. “How the hell do you know that?”

Sirius raises an eyebrow.

“Never mind, I don’t want to know,” says James.

“Fine by me. Anyways, you should go see her.”

“When?”

“Tomorrow.”

And that’s how James finds himself standing in front of a rickety apartment building the next morning.

“Go on and knock,” whispers Sirius.

James glares at his friend, then knocks.

The door is opened by a tall blonde girl who doesn’t look anything like Lily. “How can I help you?” she asks.

“Is Lily Evans home?”

The girl’s face goes sour. “She’s not here right now,” she says curtly, and goes to close the door when someone runs down the hall and yanks the door out of the other girl’s hand. “Petunia, if you lie again to your boyfriend I swear I’ll -”

Lily - for it is Lily who came tearing down the hall - stops short when she sees who it is.

“Hi,” she says.

“Hi,” says James. “Sirius and I were wondering if -”

“Lily’s grounded,” Petunia breaks in.

“Petunia,” says Lily. “Get the hell out.”

Petunia gasps, and flounces away down the hall.

Lily steps out onto the porch. She’s in shorts and a tank top, and she’s barefoot, but James thinks she looks beautiful.

“Are you really grounded?” asks James.

“Yeah, but my parents didn’t say so,” Lily says. “Tuney did.”

“How -”

“They’re on a trip,” Lily says. “Tuney’s in charge of me and she grounded me.”

“What for?”

Lily grins. “Insulting her boyfriend.”

“Damn, Evans.”

“To his face.”

James grins.

“And I told him I was a witch.”

“Wow,” says James, grinning. “Head Girl candidate isn’t so rule-abiding during the summer, yeah?”

“Shut up,” says Lily, but she’s grinning.

“Anyways, want to do something?” asks James.

“With you?” asks Lily.

“And Sirius,” says James.

“Sirius?” Lily looks confused.

James turns around, but Sirius is gone. Of course, he thinks.

“Just me, then,” says James, recovering quickly.

“James Potter, are you asking me out on a date?” asks Lily, smirking.

“No,” says James. “I’m asking you to hang out as friends.”

Lily considers for a moment, then nods. “All right,” she says. “Let me grab my shoes.” She snags a pair of sandals and yells, “I’m going out!” Finally, they stand on the porch together.

“All right,” says Lily. “What are we doing?”

James hasn’t thought that far ahead. He is silent.

“Well, I have an idea,” says Lily.

* * *

James is in awe of the movie theater. Lily buys them tickets with Muggle money, and then gets them popcorn. They go into the movie theater. James looks around and demands that Lily explain everything.

“That window is the projector room,” says Lily. “They have a machine that plays the movie, and the picture comes through that little window and appears on the screen.”

“How can the picture come through the window without breaking it?” asks James.

“It’s light. Light goes through the window and appears on the screen,” says Lily.

“I thought you said it was a picture,” says James.

Lily sighs. “It’s complicated.”

James is so busy admiring the theater and the projection and all the Muggle stuff and Lily, he’s too busy to pay attention to the movie. By the time it’s over, Lily’s going on about the characters and how good it was, and all James can do is grin at her. He continues to pepper Lily with questions about the Muggle world and the movie theater.

Lily answers the questions as best she can, but she’s happy just to know more than James about something for once.

They wander around Lily’s town and talk, about school, and going back for their last year. They wonder about who’ll get Head Boy and Girl. James is convinced that Lily will be Head Girl, and Lily says there’s no way in hell that’ll happen, James. They talk about what they’re going to do after Hogwarts. James wants to be an Auror and Lily wants to work in the Department of International Magical Cooperation. They talk about a little bit of everything, and before they know it, the sun is setting and they both have to go back home.

“I had fun today,” says James.

“So did I,” replies Lily. The setting sun is like fire in her already red hair and it’s beautiful. “On our not-date.”

“See you when school starts in a month,” says James.

Lily nods and heads off down the street. James looks around. And there’s Sirius, stepping out from behind a building.

“So, how’d it go?” asks Sirius, like he didn’t go and desert James all day.

James glares at Sirius, then grabs his arm and they Disapparate back to the Potter mansion.


	8. The Car: In Which Lily Runs Away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I am one day late I know, but I have been dealing with some stuff on the side and it all kind of came to a head on Wednesday/Thursday this week.
> 
> Enjoy the chapter. I'm almost done with this one! And of course, please leave kudos and comments if you liked the work.

Lily turns a corner and walks into chaos.

Smoke hangs in the air, and Lily faintly hears explosions coming from further up the street. She plunges her hand into her purse and pulls her wand out. She doesn’t know what’s going on, but she knows that in the wizarding world, there’s a war going on.

She also knows that her house is up that street and her parents are home.

Mary, who joined Lily on the expedition to Diagon Alley to pick up schoolbooks, draws her wand as well. The girls leave their bags forgotten and slowly walk into the haze.

Flashing lights soon indicate that this is indeed a wizarding battle. Lily’s heart is pounding. Mary grabs Lily’s arm and pulls her down behind a garden wall as a spell shoots toward them. Lily shrieks and tumbles to the ground, Marlene on top of her. For a second, they lay there, panting.

“What do we do?” Mary whispers.

“I don’t know,” breathes Lily. She’s truly scared now, wondering who’s found her family and what they want with her parents and Petunia.

“We can’t stay here, we’ve got to leave. Find a way to contact Dumbledore or - someone. I don’t know. Anyone. We can’t handle this,” says Mary.

“That’s my street,” Lily says numbly. “That’s where I live.”

Mary, who’s never actually been to Lily’s house on account of how Petunia doesn’t want any more “crazy magic people” in the house, gasps.

“Oh, Lily -”

“I’ve got to know. I have to know what’s going on,” says Lily, and begins to rise.

Mary tugs weakly on Lily’s arm, but Lily shakes her off. She’s got to know what happened.

Lily lights her wand, because the haze is so thick that it’s starting to block the sun. She whirls at a noise, but it turns out to be Mary.

“Go back,” hisses Lily.

“No,” says Mary stubbornly. “I’m coming with you.”

Lily opens her mouth to protest, but Mary shakes her head. “No. If you’re going to be stupid, I’m coming too.”

Lily decides it’s better not to argue. She doesn’t know what’s down the street, and backup wouldn’t hurt.

The girls creep along, wands up, looking for any evidence of human activity. Finally, Lily motions Mary to the side. They’ve reached the Evans house, or what’s left of it. The door has been blown to splinters, and part of the front wall is missing.

The haze is beginning to clear, which leads Lily to think that the attackers are gone. But then she hears a voice yell, “ _ Morsmordre! _ ” and a thing shoots up into the sky. Lily can’t tell what it is at first, but the green mist condenses into the shape of a skull and serpent. The Dark Mark.

“Oh, bloody hell,” mumbles Lily. Mary inhales sharply behind her.

“Lils, I really think it’s better if we call-”

But Mary doesn’t finish, because two figures leap out at them, wands drawn. In an instant, Lily and Mary are on the defensive. It’s all they can do to shield themselves from the curses raining down. Lily casts spell after spell, but she can feel herself tiring quickly. From what she can see of Mary, Lily’s not the only one losing energy.

Out of the corner of her eye, Lily spies the corner of the Evans family station wagon, and a crazy idea comes to her.

“Mary,” she calls, “do you know how to drive?”

“What? Of course I can bloody well drive!” shouts Mary.

“ _ Accio Bags! _ ”

“Lily, what the hell are you doing?” asks Mary, finally stunning one of the Death Eaters. She throws up a hasty shield between Lily and the second Death Eater. Lily directs the luggage to the car, and casts an Impediment Jinx on the second Death Eater, temporarily stopping him in his tracks.

“Get in the passenger seat,” says Lily. “Hurry!”

Mary goes, and Lily stuns the second Death Eater quickly, then jumps in the driver’s seat, summoning the keys with another “ _ Accio! _ ” She jams them into the ignition and the girls take off.

They don’t go far before they hear the sounds of pursuit. Lily turns to Mary, wide-eyed. “What do we do now?”

Mary thinks, then says, “Quick, turn here!”

Lily jerks the wheel and the car tears over a curb and into a side street.

“Switch with me, quick,” Mary pants. “I know where we can go. You sit in back and cover us.”

Lily doesn’t question this, and the girls take off again, careening through side streets. After an eternity, they lose their pursuers, and Lily slumps down in the back seat, Mary still driving at the speed of sound.

* * *

“Mary, you failed to mention that we were going to James Potter’s,” Lily says two hours later.

“Do you have a better place in mind?” Mary turns to look at Lily. “Because feel free to take back off out there. I did the only thing I could think of, and in case you missed it, we were being chased by Death Eaters. I don’t think you can be too picky.”

Her eyes are stars of anger and Lily realizes that she was out of line. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

“I thought so.” Mary opens the door and then waits for Lily before they walk up to the house.

Euphemia remembers Lily from Christmas, and she welcomes them in unconditionally. While Lily and Mary are recounting their experiences, James and Sirius come in.

“Mum, someone’s parked one of their muggle what-d’you-callems out front,” James says.

“Bloody hell,” says Sirius. “Evans, McDonald - what happened?”

Lily, who’s starting to think that “Bloody hell” sums up the day pretty nicely, doesn’t immediately respond. Mary starts explaining what happened at Lily’s house. Once Lily’s recovered enough to talk, she joins in, adding any detail she can remember.

Euphemia sighs at the end of the story. “Well, I’ll tell Fleamont when he gets home from work,” she says. “He’ll notify the Ministry and they’ll notify your sister, Lily. You said she lives with her fiance?”

“Yes ma’am,” Lily replies.

“Don’t be silly, dear, I’m just Euphemia. Now, James and Sirius, be gentlemen for once in your lives and show the girls to the guest wing.”

* * *

Later, Lily’s laid back in the front seat of her car, staring at the stars. She’s charmed the roof to open to the sky. Lily remembers begging her parents for a convertible, but never getting one. This is the closest she’ll ever come to having one.

Memories of her mother and father bring tears to Lily’s eyes. She doesn’t know if they’re dead, but even if they aren’t, it’s too dangerous for Lily to go back to them. She’ll never see them again. She won’t go to Petunia’s wedding, or get to celebrate her birthday with her parents. She’ll never go shopping in London with her mother again, or watch a football match on the telly with her dad. It’s too much to process, and Lily starts to cry silently, tears blurring the stars.

“Lily? Are you out here?”

She looks up at James’ voice. “Here,” she calls, leaning over and opening the passenger door.

James slides in with his usual debonair grace. “Some ride you’ve got, Evans.”

Lily cracks a smile. “This old thing?”

James looks sideways at her through his lashes and Lily can’t help but notice how fit he looks, stretched out in the passenger seat.  _ Stop that _ , she orders herself sternly. This is James bloody Potter, after all, and she can’t be thinking that about him.

“Hey, Evans. Are you in there?”

Lily shakes herself, then turns back to James. “What?”

“How does this go?”

She points out the ignition, and the steering wheel, the gas and brake pedals, the clutch, and how to put the car in drive, reverse, and park. James follows with rapt attention.

“Can I drive it?” he asks.

“Maybe tomorrow.”

They’re quiet, and then James speaks. “Lily, I’m... I’m really sorry. About your family.”

“It’s okay,” says Lily dully. “Not your fault.”

“That doesn’t make it okay,” says James, snaking an arm around Lily’s shoulders. “That doesn’t make it okay.”

They sit like that for a while, Lily’s head on James’ shoulder, and watch the stars go by. When James finally gets up and says good night, Lily stays out in the car, and wonders about the man that James Potter is turning out to be.


	9. The Radio: In Which James and Lily Both Come to a Realization

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woohoo the last chapter!!! After this there is just an epilogue left.
> 
> Enjoy, my friends. Leave kudos and/or comments if you so desire - they make me very happy.

James adores Halloween, and especially so this year because it’s a new moon so Remus can go to the feast. The four of them work their way down to the Great Hall, which smells like pumpkin and chocolate and a dozen other tantalizing things. Sirius is throwing his wand up in the air like a baton and catching it again.

“James!”

James turns to see Lily hurtling down the stairs towards him, Marlene and Mary close behind. The Marauders stop to wait for them.

Sirius stops throwing his wand to give Marlene a long kiss that’s fairly inappropriate, given the fact that they’re right in the middle of the entrance hall.

“Get a room, you two,” mutters Lily.

Sirius breaks apart from Marlene long enough to stick his tongue out at her.

“Mature, Padfoot,” Remus says. “Lily, did you see the new Bowie album that came out?”

“Of course. I adore it,” Lily replies, and the two of them head off down the staircase together, chattering about Muggle music. Mary follows, and Lily slings an arm around her shoulders.

James pauses to watch all his friends make their way to the feast, and for the first time since starting Hogwarts, he realizes what Lily has been saying to him all this time. She’s happy as she is.

He doesn’t think he’ll ever quite stop loving her, but he also treasures their newfound friendship this year. He doesn’t want to lose that, and so he will remain her friend, since she does not love him. And he’s completely happy to be her friend.

With this newfound realization, he marches into the Hall after his friends for their last Halloween feast.

* * *

“Lils?”

“Shut up.”

James tiptoes down into the common room, where Lily is staring into the fire. It’s dark, and he can’t see her face, but he can see her prodding at a small device sitting on the table. He walks over to sit down beside her.

“It’s a radio,” she says in response to James’ unanswered question.

“Lily, that gigantic thing in the corner is a radio. That tiny thing cannot be a radio.”

“I promise you it’s a radio,” she says, giggling. “I wanted to hear some Bowie.”

“Bowie?”

“Never mind.”

They sit, listening to Lily’s radio in silence, until Lily reaches over and flicks it off.

“I have a question, James,” she says.

James swallows, then nods. “Yeah?”

“Why haven’t you asked me out this year?”

James opens his mouth to say something, then closes it. Why? Of all the things that she could have asked, that’s what she wants to know? It isn’t fair. He’s done everything, and the very day he decides that they’re good as friends, she goes and demands to know why he hasn’t asked her out? It’s totally callous of her.

“I don’t know why that’s any of your business,” he says, careful to keep his voice level.

“Oh, I think maybe it is, given that we’re the Head students and that I’m the target of your affections,” says Lily, drawing back.

“Fine. You want to know why I quit? Because it was the only thing I hadn’t tried. I loved you for years, Lily, I really did. I know you think that it was some big joke, but it wasn’t. I loved you, and you didn’t love me back, and I tried so damn hard to fix everything about myself that you didn’t like. I quit hexing people. I quit being an arrogant prat. And none of it mattered, because you still said no. And I realized today that you just don’t like me, probably never will, but I still want you in my life, Lily, and I’d rather be your friend than not know you. So I stopped asking you out because I realized that one day, you weren’t just going to say no, you were going to quit responding to me at all.”

His voice has risen and his face is flushed. Lily’s staring at him, eyes wide.

“You... you meant it?” she whispers, seeming quite small.

Angrily, James runs a hand through his hair. “Of course I meant it. I meant it every time, and I mean it now.”

The instant the words are out of his mouth, James realizes what he’s admitted.

“Oh, hell,” says Lily. “All this time... and I was so horrible to you... and you really, truly meant it.”

She leans forward, putting her head in her hands. Her hair falls in a curtain around her face, the embers glinting off a few red strands here and there.

James isn’t really sure what to do. He can handle happy Lily, and annoyed Lily, and furious Lily, but he isn’t really sure what to do with sad Lily, especially when for once, he’s not the problem.

After an eternity, she looks up. “James, I’m so sorry.”

“S’fine now,” James mumbles, suddenly rather embarrassed.

“No,” says Lily quietly. “No, it’s not.”

They sit in silence for a moment, before Lily speaks again. “James, what would you think if - I mean, what if - I guess what I’m trying to say is -”

“Coherent, aren’t you, Evans?”

“Stop it,” she says, but there’s no bite in her words. Taking a deep breath, she asked, “James, do you still love me?”

“What?”

“Humor me. Please. I promise I won’t shoot you down, and especially no giant squid comments.”

James exhales, and looks at Lily. “I know that this isn’t the best situation. I know that we have a history, but Lily Evans, rest assured that I don’t think it’s possible for me to not love you. But,” he rushes on, “I also recognize that it’s not returned, and I get it. I do. So I won’t - make it weird, or, you know...” He trails off, having run out of steam.

Lily leans in, wraps an arm around James’ neck, and kisses him.

James is so surprised that he isn’t sure what to do. Eventually he responds, kissing Lily back, running one hand through her hair.

When they do break apart, Lily starts talking really fast. “I realized over the summer that I do like you and then you quit asking me out and I was afraid that -”

James cuts her off. “Evans, don’t ruin the start of something beautiful with a speech.”

“Don’t ruin it yourself by blowing it before it gets more than a minute in.”

James supposes that even if they’re dating, the verbal sparring between them will never end. But he’s struck with an idea, so he runs his hand through his hair and adopts an expression of supreme arrogance.

“Go out with me, Evans?”

Lily laughs, shaking her head. “Yes, of course.”

James smiles for real and kisses her again.


	10. The Lemon Drop: In Which A Future Is Faced

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, this is bittersweet. My first multi-chapter fic is finished. I present you with... the epilogue.
> 
> If you have stuck with me to the end of this story, thank you! I hope you enjoy the ending. Kudos and comments are my favorite things, if you wish to leave them.

“Sirius Black.”

Sirius strides across the stage in red and gold dress robes he picked out specifically to annoy his family, who didn’t show up, but will surely hear about it from the parents of all the graduating members of Slytherin House.

“Lily Evans.”

Lily walks across the stage, tall and proud, ready for the next chapter of her life, but wishing her parents could have been here to see her graduate.

“Remus Lupin.”

Two nights ago was a full moon, but Remus refuses to miss his graduation, and a chance to show that he is just as smart, capable, and dedicated as any of his classmates, despite being a werewolf.

“Mary Macdonald.”

Mary receives her diploma and winks at her boyfriend, Reg, in the front row, proud of all she’s done to get here and wondering what happens next.

“Marlene McKinnon.”

Marlene strides across the stage in a pantsuit, because Marlene is badass like that.

“Peter Pettigrew.”

Peter walks to receive his diploma, fearful of the rising shadow of You-Know-Who, and wondering how he and his friends will all make it out alive.

“James Potter.”

James walks up, no longer the arrogant boy who met Sirius Black on the Hogwarts Express first year, but a man who sees the hard times coming ahead and understands that everyone’s going to need to depend on each other, and that means he needs to be dependable.

“Alice Prewett.”

Alice’s older brothers whistle at her and she stops in the middle of the stage to give them a withering look, a move that is both classic Alice and causes Gideon and Fabian to duck their heads.

“Congratulations to the Hogwarts Class of 1978.”

Sirius, Lily, Remus, Mary, Marlene, Peter, James, and Alice are adults now. They know it, and they are scared, and happy, and hopeful.

* * *

Dumbledore pulls James aside soon after the ceremony is over. “Mr. Potter, I’d like to speak with you in my office, please.”

Bewildered, James follows Dumbledore up the winding staircase and into his office.

“I have asked you here,” begins Dumbledore, “to see if you would like to join a group that I have put together in secret. The Ministry, I fear, is doing little to actually combat Voldemort, and I have seen fit to ask a few individuals if they are willing to join the fight.”

“I’m in,” says James with no hesitation.

“It will be dangerous. You will have to keep it a secret, for no one outside of the group may know of our existence.”

James nods. “I understand, sir. And I still want to join. Stopping Voldemort means that Lily, Remus, Peter, and Mary all get to live their lives as equals, which they deserve simply by virtue of existing.”

“That is very eloquent, James, and very moving,” says Dumbledore. “I will send you an invitation to a meeting of our group soon. Do send Miss Evans in, will you?”

James stands and opens the door, where Lily is indeed waiting.

“How does he do that?” she mouths at him.

“No idea,” he mouths back.

“Oh, and James?” calls Dumbledore.

James turns around.

“Lemon drop?”

James has been to Professor Dumbledore’s office dozens of times in the past seven years, and he’s never once tried the lemon drops. _What the hell,_ he thinks, and turns back to take one.

Lily giggles. “I told you he’d take one before he left, Professor.”

“So you did. And you were quite correct. Enjoy your last day at Hogwarts, James,” says Dumbledore. “And congratulations.”


End file.
